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June - Early June the strawberry shop opens for business. It's a really family affair!
July - The strawberry shop continues to be open until around mid July. Once closed the fields are cleared down of
fences and the plants die back and are 'topped' sitting flush with the ground.
The combine harvester
is brought out of the barn cleaned and checked before harvest beginning.
The sheep are sheared - a very noisy day!
August - Harvesting is well underway. Dad and Rob work every hour whilst lights available. Flowers from
the new strawberry plants are painstakingly removed (by hand!). Hay and straw bales are made and stored.
September
- Weather depending harvest should finish around Mid September if not earlier!
October - Start to prepare the
fields for next years crops - by ploughing and cultivating the land and sowing the selected crops.
November
- Early November the ewes are put to the rams in preparation for lambing. 5 month gestation.
December
- Conservation projects and general farm maintenance
January - The yard and lambing pens are prepared. The ewes
are brought undercover in preparation for the birth of their lambs.
February - Prepare the ground for
spring cropping - linseed, lupins and spring barley.
March - The first of around 500 baby lambs appear.
April - Lambing is still well underway. The strawberries wake up!
May - Lambing draws to a close and the
yard is cleared down. Expert consultation over the strawberries is given and advice given. The back breaking task of
manual weeding of the 5 acres of strawberries is done by Dad & Rob. Strawberry flowers appear and strawing
is done at this time before the first sign of fruit arrives. The strawer separates bales and deposits
small amounts of straw in each of the rows - this job is also to be complete by hand as the machine cannot get close
enough to the plant.
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